{ "id": "R44454", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R44454", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 462310, "date": "2017-06-28", "retrieved": "2018-05-10T13:03:39.669089", "title": "Defense: FY2017 Budget Request, Authorization, and Appropriations", "summary": "This report discusses the Obama Administration\u2019s FY2017 defense budget request and provides a summary of congressional action on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2017 (S. 2943/P.L. 114-328), and the FY2017 Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 244/P.L. 115-31). \nIn February 2016, the Obama Administration requested $523.9 billion to cover the FY2017 discretionary base budget of the Department of Defense (DOD) and $58.8 billion in discretionary funding for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The OCO budget category generally includes funding related to the incremental cost of operations such as those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and certain DOD activities aimed at deterring Russian aggression in Europe. The balance of the DOD budget\u2014that portion not designated as OCO\u2014comprises what is often referred to as the base budget. \nCombined with an anticipated expenditure of $7.9 billion mandatory defense spending, the Obama Administration\u2019s total budget FY2017 request for DOD was $590.5 billion as of February 2016.\nOn November 10, 2016, the Obama Administration submitted an amendment to the OCO budget request, seeking an additional $5.8 billion to maintain approximately 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, to provide additional aviation assets for the Afghan Air Force, to support additional requirements in Iraq/Syria, and to address emerging force protection issues. This brought the FY2017 OCO discretionary budget request to $64.6 billion. \nOn March 16, 2017\u2014by which date the FY2017 NDAA had been enacted, but Congress had not completed action on the FY2017 defense appropriations bill\u2014the Trump Administration requested additional DOD funding for FY2017. The additional funds \u2013$24.9 billion for base budget activities and $5.1 billion designated for OCO\u2014brought the total DOD request for FY2017 to $626.3 billion.\nCongressional deliberations on the FY2017 defense budget occurred in the context of broader budget discussions about the binding annual caps on base budget discretionary appropriations for defense and nondefense programs. These caps were established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA/P.L. 112-25) as last amended by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA/P.L. 114-74). The BCA provides that amounts appropriated for OCO or emergencies are not counted against the established discretionary spending limits. \nIn addition to raising the FY2017 discretionary defense spending cap on the base budget to $551 billion, the 2015 BBA set a nonbinding target of $58.8 billion for OCO-designated defense spending in FY2017. The Obama Administration\u2019s FY2017 budget request matched the base budget cap and the OCO target that were set by the BBA. Of note, the request allocated $5.1 billion of the $58.8 billion in OCO-designated funds for base budget purposes. \nIn the House-passed versions of both the NDAA (H.R. 4909) and the initial defense appropriations bill (H.R. 5293) for FY2017, the total amounts for base and OCO conformed with the amounts specified by the BBA. However, both House bills would have increased the amount of OCO-designated funding to be used for base budget purposes: the authorization bill would have added $18.0 billion and the appropriations bill would have added $15.1 billion to the $5.1 billion so-designated in the Obama Administration\u2019s request. According to the House Armed Services Committee, the remaining OCO funds authorized by H.R. 4909 \u2013 amounting to $35.7 billion \u2013 would cover the cost of OCO through April 2017. By then, the committee said, the newly elected President could request a supplemental appropriation to cover OCO costs for the balance of FY2017.\nNeither the Senate-passed NDAA nor the version of the defense appropriations bill reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee (S. 3000) would have increased the amount of OCO-designated funding to be used for base budget purposes above the Obama Administration\u2019s request. The enacted version of the FY2017 NDAA (S. 2943/P.L. 114-328), authorized $543.4 billion for DOD base budget activities\u2014$2 million less than was requested\u2014and $67.8 billion designated as OCO funding. The OCO-designated funding totaled $3.2 billion more than the Administration\u2019s OCO request as amended in November and this additional funding was directed at base budget requirements. \nDOD\u2019s military construction budget for FY2017 was funded in the annual appropriations bill that also funded the Department of Veterans Affairs and certain other agencies (H.R. 5325/P.L. 114-223, enacted on September 29, 2016). That bill also incorporated a continuing resolution to provide temporary funding for federal agencies for which no FY2017 funds had been appropriated by the start of the fiscal year (October 1, 2016). This first FY2017 continuing resolution (CR) was succeeded by a second continuing resolution (H.R. 202/P.L. 114-254), enacted on December 10, 2016. Division B of this second FY2017 CR also appropriated a total of $5.8 billion for OCO-designated DOD funds for FY2017, including $1.45 billion requested in the Obama Administration\u2019s November 2016 budget amendment.\nAfter the 115th Congress convened in January 2017, negotiators for the House and Senate Appropriations Committees drafted a new FY2017 defense appropriations bill\u2014H.R. 1301. It was based on the original February 2016 budget request for FY2017 plus a portion of the OCO funding requested in November. The House passed H.R. 1301 on March 8, 2017. The Senate took no action on this bill.\nA third CR (H.J.Res. 99/P.L. 115-30) was enacted April 28, 2017 to provide an extra week to finalize the bills. On May 3, 2017, the House passed a third version of the FY2017 defense appropriations bill as Division C of H.R. 244, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017. Division C aligned with H.R. 1301 but included a new title (Title X) which provided $14.8 billion in response to the Trump Administration\u2019s request for additional appropriations. All of the amounts in Title X are designated OCO funding. In total, H.R. 244 provided $582.4 billion in funding for the DOD. The Senate passed H.R. 244 on May 5, 2017, and the bill was signed into law (P.L. 115-31) before the third FY2017 CR expired.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44454", "sha1": "79aa1e178800c56f3a86d2ca94aa452673fc3489", "filename": "files/20170628_R44454_79aa1e178800c56f3a86d2ca94aa452673fc3489.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44454_files&id=/2.png": "files/20170628_R44454_images_fbe9e8b9319224006efe1ddb4b8be0283e8632f1.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44454_files&id=/5.png": "files/20170628_R44454_images_8f237c88ca321d6f9dec9b28c12e79d82a10e0ed.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44454_files&id=/4.png": "files/20170628_R44454_images_a87aec0710632387d8b219313c48287c2018ae5a.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44454_files&id=/1.png": "files/20170628_R44454_images_b66cc34903261e57ac6dda300425b3c1a77e4de1.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44454_files&id=/3.png": "files/20170628_R44454_images_9d8e79bda327670b4877042b40fe3bbc6da5c237.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44454_files&id=/0.png": "files/20170628_R44454_images_e35ca8a38b65ad906a8f725a004104320d36d95b.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44454", "sha1": "e7f727915367a8382afa29d815ae9f417c02f352", "filename": "files/20170628_R44454_e7f727915367a8382afa29d815ae9f417c02f352.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4772, "name": "Defense Appropriations" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4778, "name": "Defense Budgets & Appropriations" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4837, "name": "Defense Authorization" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 451680, "date": "2016-04-12", "retrieved": "2016-05-24T19:24:41.549941", "title": "Defense: FY2017 Budget Request, Authorization, and Appropriations", "summary": "The Administration requested $523.9 billion to cover the FY2017 discretionary \u201cbase budget\u201d of the Department of Defense (DOD). This request is $2.2 billion, or approximately 1%, higher than the corresponding appropriation for FY2016. In addition to the base budget request, the Administration requested $58.8 billion\u2014including $3.4 billion for the European Reassurance Initiative\u2014in discretionary funding for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The total discretionary funding request of $609.9 billion, combined with $9.6 billion in mandatory spending, brought the Administration\u2019s total FY2017 National Defense budget request to $619.5 billion.\nIn shaping the FY2017 budget, DOD officials stated that they emphasized innovation and other ways to increase the combat effectiveness of U.S. forces while complying with the budget caps. The request aims to field a force that can deter the most technologically advanced potential adversaries using conventional weapons, without assuming that U.S. forces would match the size of enemy forces, by modernizing its equipment and changing its organization rather than by enlarging their numbers.\nCongressional deliberations on the FY2017 defense budget may be influenced, in part, by the broader budget discussions about the binding annual caps on discretionary appropriations (through FY2021) established by the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011(P.L. 112-25). One particular issue for Congress is whether the FY2017 allocation for OCO funding provided by the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015 (P.L. 114-74 ) allows for a higher total appropriation for the DOD than the Administration proposed. A second issue\u2014one that may delay work on all FY2017 appropriations bills, including those that fund DOD\u2014is the demand by some members of Congress that the increased non-defense spending allowed by the BBA be offset, in part, by reductions in mandatory spending.\nTo balance competing priorities within the FY2017 defense budget cap, as amended by the BBA, the Administration requested slightly more funding for Operation and Maintenance, and slightly less for procurement compared with FY2016 base budget DOD appropriations. The request proposes $135.3 billion in base funding for military personnel programs plus another $3.6 billion in OCO, for a total of $138.8 billion. DOD has proposed some compensation changes alongside the FY2017 budget that are intended to generate savings. TRICARE Modernization proposals and amendments to the retirement system are projected to have some initial implementation costs, while savings are expected to accrue in subsequent years. \nArmy officials emphasized that the service\u2019s FY2017 budget request prioritized readiness over modernization. Within the Army\u2019s modernization budget, helicopter programs were reduced more than new types of ground vehicles and upgrades to some types already in service. The FY2017 budget would fund only one major effort for the Marine Corps to develop a new vehicle intended for front-line combat, seeking $158.7 million to continue development of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, an 8-wheeled amphibious troop carrier intended to replace AAV-7 tracked amphibious troop carriers. The Army and Marine Corps have a combined $735.4 million procurement request in 2017 for 2,020 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, and the Army is seeking $184.2 million to complete production of 29 prototype Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles slated for shakedown testing at government test sites. \nThe planned size of the Navy, the rate of Navy ship procurement, and the prospective affordability of the Navy\u2019s shipbuilding plans have been matters of concern for the congressional defense committees for the past several years. Concerns over the current and future size and capability of the Navy have intensified with the recent shift in the international security environment to a situation featuring renewed great power competition.\nThe Navy\u2019s proposed FY2017 budget requests funding for the procurement of seven new ships\u2014two Virginia-class attack submarines, two DDG-51 class destroyers, two Littoral Combat Ships, and one LHA-6 class amphibious assault ship. The Navy\u2019s FY2017-FY2021 five-year shipbuilding plan includes a total of 38 new ships, compared to the five-year plan sent to Congress in 2015, which projected funding of 48 new ships in FY2016-FY2020.\nWhen looking at the various services\u2019 plans for acquiring aviation systems, one theme becomes clear: deferral. The Army and Air Force have chosen to delay their previously-planned aircraft purchases, and the Navy funds only 2 F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets while including 14 more on their Unfunded Requirements List.\nThe President\u2019s FY2017 budget continues to fund a wide range of programs intended to sustain and modernize U.S. nuclear weapons. The DOD budget includes nearly $4.7 billion in funding to upgrade and replace U.S. nuclear weapons delivery systems. In addition, the Administration requested $9.1 billion to develop and deploy ballistic missile defense capabilities, which is a decrease of about $700 million from the FY2016 enacted level of $9.8 billion. The request includes $7.5 billion for the Missile Defense Agency and the remainder primarily for the Army Patriot missile defense program.\nFor FY2017 the Administration\u2019s request includes $7.1 billion for Air Force national security space programs, an increase of about $100 million above the FY2016 enacted level. DOD has stated this budget request allows the United States to maintain supremacy in space and provides communications, navigation, missile warning, space situational awareness, and environmental monitoring. Intelligence has remained proportionally constant to defense spending\u2014consistently representing roughly 10-11% of national defense spending\u2014and the FY2017 request of $70.3 billion continues that trend.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44454", "sha1": "45521d9164d012f684f14bd0016328d861fd7d5a", "filename": "files/20160412_R44454_45521d9164d012f684f14bd0016328d861fd7d5a.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44454", "sha1": "6d540f8a92c2753c95f1d04e7ffc8759a5ddfc4a", "filename": "files/20160412_R44454_6d540f8a92c2753c95f1d04e7ffc8759a5ddfc4a.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 221, "name": "Defense Appropriations" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Appropriations", "Foreign Affairs", "Intelligence and National Security", "National Defense" ] }